


trapped up on a tightrope (now we're here)

by arrodete



Series: thirty ways to give you tender love [1]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: (or you could say whipping cream??? you like whipping??), Byun Baekhyun Realizes Things, Canon Universe, Conversations, Established Relationship, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Idiots in Love, Light Angst, M/M, Realization, author isnt funny oops, baekhyun is Whipped Cream Whipped, baekhyun's mom is also a love guru, completely self-indulgent, do kyungsoo is: a love guru, dumb !!! THEYRE SO DUMB HERE but i love them, established relationship but Moving Onto The Next Level!!!, junmyeon is The PUBG King, kinda angst ???, they swear too much here, thought EXO-SKY was only a dream? its a reality here!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-17
Updated: 2019-05-17
Packaged: 2020-03-06 21:13:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18859231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arrodete/pseuds/arrodete
Summary: “Why,” Baekhyun begins, “do you have this?”Jongdae raises his arms. “Okay, listen, I’m sorry! I thought we could play a round and settle the scores, you know—”“We almost broke up because of this!” Baekhyun yells, waving the Monopoly board around.“Put the weapon down, Baekhyun,” Jongdae says, backing away into the kitchen of their apartment. “And we didnotalmost break up, you drama queen!”-Or; after getting in a fight with Jongdae, Baekhyun realizes that he wants to stick around for a long time.





	trapped up on a tightrope (now we're here)

**Author's Note:**

> this is the first work of a thirty fic baekchen challenge i'm trying out! im tryna get back into writing after a long writer's block + this is my first exo fic so i thought that this would help me warm up and practice. special thanks to: [klene](https://twitter.com/peachyeollie_), [clara](https://twitter.com/xiutheavenger), and [audrey](https://twitter.com/wellbyun) for being great betas and hyping me enough to post this! you guys are the best <33
> 
> teen and up warning because they swear a LOT 
> 
>  
> 
> prompt 1: a - age | do the otp+ plan on spending their lives together? how do they imagine their relationship years from now?

Baekhyun wakes up shivering.

 

It wasn’t his fault. He could only keep so much heat within his tiny, tiny body (though he would never admit that to Chanyeol—he already suffers from _enough_ short jokes, thank you very much), and he wasn’t used to sleeping alone. Back in the dorm, there was _always_ someone to cling onto for body warmth; be it Sehun, as they binged Kyungsoo’s movies on the couch, or Chanyeol, as they sat on the rug in the living room, playing with the Xbox. Even Minseok would be willing to cuddle would him—the elder had a soft spot for his dongsaengs, especially ones who claimed to suffer from nightmares (and Baekhyun’s used that excuse many, many times).

 

Or, his mind helpfully supplies, _Jongdae, your boyfriend. He’d be pretty willing to cuddle with you._

 

He groans at the thought of his stupidly warm boyfriend. God, he misses Jongdae.

 

-

 

When he finally gets up, it’s almost noon. He heads downstairs and into the kitchen to grab a glass of water. His mom takes one look at him and _laughs_. 

 

“What did you do this time, Baek?” she smirks at him from the counter, where she was preparing Mongyrong’s food. “I know that face—that’s your guilty face. Fess up, mister.”

 

He takes a sip of his water and looks through the fridge, feigning nonchalance. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

 

She rolls her eyes, looking fond, and Baekhyun can’t help but think that she looks younger every time he visits her. “Try again. You can’t hide anything from me, you’re the worst liar.”

 

Baekhyun’s eyes widen. He gasps dramatically. “Not true! Baekbeom can’t lie for shit.”

 

“No swearing! And yeah, he can’t lie to save his life, but you’re worse than him.”

 

His jaw drops. He can’t believe this; first, Jongdae, and now his own mother turned against him— he really can’t trust anyone. For the first time in his twenty-seven years of living, Byun Baekhyun is speechless.

 

His mother sighs. “Close the fridge, you’re wasting energy.” 

 

“And you’re wasting the opportunity to comfort me!” he pouts, closing the fridge anyway. “Can’t you see that I’m distressed! Then— then you call Baekbeom a better liar than me—”

 

“Yes, Baek, you big baby, I can see that. I can’t comfort you if I don’t know what’s wrong, though,” she says. Then, softer: “This is about Jongdae, isn’t it.”

 

He almost drops his glass. “How did you know?”

 

She shrugs. “You told me you’d take him home the next time you had a break from your schedules, but lo and behold, he isn’t here. Listen, baby, I don’t know what happened between you two, but I know it can be resolved, alright? Don’t worry too much.”

 

Baekhyun bites his lip. “That’s the thing, mom. We fight a lot, but… I feel like this is something we can’t get past.”

 

She studies him, tilting her head. “It’s a bit hard to imagine anything like that, you guys seem like you’ll be together forever. What… what, exactly, did you two fight about?”

 

So Baekhyun tells her everything. He tells her about how he fucked up, about the fight, and how they left it unresolved.

 

And his mom—

 

His mom _laughs_. She laughs so hard that she wheezes, and before he can blink, she’s doubled over the counter, just _laughing_ at him. Baekhyun pouts, and his mom tells him to set up the table for lunch.

 

(She tells him to apologize to Jongdae, that Jongdae will _forgive_ him, that it’ll be okay. She tells him that the next time he comes over, Jongdae better be with him.

 

He doesn’t tell her that he’s very doubtful that Jongdae will forgive him, just like that. There’s only one person more stubborn than Byun Baekhyun, and his name is Kim Jongdae)

 

-

 

After three hours, he caves in.

 

For three, torturous hours, Baekhyun doesn’t look at his phone. He plays PUBG with Sehun, Kyungsoo, and Junmyeon, who are all in their respective family homes, enjoying their break before EXO promotes their comeback in a week, and they’ll all have to return to the dorm. Except for Sehun, of course, who comes back to the dorm today, as he, Jongin, and Chanyeol start recording for their new song,

 

He watches the match through Kyungsoo’s point of view. He and Sehun died early in the game, after they encountered a squad looking for supplies by the quarry. Currently, the match was down to four—Kyungsoo, Junmyeon, and two other players.

 

“Where the fuck are they?” Junmyeon says, looking for the other two players. The safe zone was very small at this point.

 

Kyungsoo swears after being shot. “Fuck! Okay, hyung, it’s all on you now.”

 

Baekhyun hears Junmyeon grunt through his headphones. He shoots down the guy the shot Kyungsoo and—

 

Junmyeon turns around and finds himself face-to-face with the last player. He aims. He shoots.

 

_Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!_

 

“YEAH!” he yells at the mic, along with his other three members. “FINALLY! WE WON!”

 

“Great job, hyung!” Sehun yells.

 

“KIM JUNMYEON!” Kyungsoo, quite uncharacteristically, yells.

 

They share news of their win to their other members by spamming the group chat with heart stickers. Chanyeol tells them not to play without him, Junmyeon tells him that they always lose when they squad with him.

 

“Next game?” Baekhyun asks, a little breathless.

 

“Ah, shit, I gotta go,” Junmyeon says. “Maybe later? My family’s going out, so… I’ll talk to you guys later!”

 

“No worries, hyung!” he replies. Junmyeon hangs up, before sending a flurry of heart emojis in the group chat. “Sehun? Soo?

 

“Can’t,” Sehun says. “I have recording, Chanyeol’s already waiting at the studio. Talk to you guys later!”

 

“Ah, right, the song. Have fun, you two!” he says. Sehun hangs up.

 

Kyungsoo sighs. “Alright, Baek, I’m going too. Don’t forget what I told you about Jongdae. He’ll forgive you, I promise. Plus, this entire thing is stupid.”

 

Baekhyun groans. “Thanks a lot for reminding me, Soo.”

 

Baekhyun can almost hear the smile in his voice. “Go get your boy back, Baek. He’s not worth losing over a stupid ga—”

 

“Shut up! Don’t talk about that— that game, when you’re around me. It cost me my relationship!”

 

“Don’t be dramatic, dumbass. It didn’t cost you anything, just apologize.”

 

“It cost me Jongdae,” he whines. He was well-aware that he was being over-dramatic, but who _wouldn’t_ be? “How am I ever gonna sing with him again, knowing that he isn’t my boyfriend anymore? How am I ever going to harmonize with him, knowing that we don’t connect anymore? How am I going to sing Wolf anymore, when all I remember is the time we harmonized so well at the concert in—”

 

“Baekhyun, please. Shut up. You’re not going to lose your boyfriend.”

 

“If he’s still my boyfriend,” Baekhyun says, frowning at the thought. He couldn’t seem to fathom the thought of _losing_ Jongdae, of breaking up with him. Kyungsoo laughs, and Baekhyun frowns harder.

 

“Of course he’s still your boyfriend, you big baby. You guys are gonna be together forever, like in those cheesy songs we sing,” Kyungsoo says, tone much lighter than usual.

 

“Shut up, don’t diss our songs. You love them. Also, why does everyone keep calling me that?”

 

“What, a big baby? Because you are one, though _big_ is a bit of an exaggerati—”

 

“Fight me, Do Kyungsoo. Literally fight me. Let’s square up, SM Ent. parking lot, eight o’clock. See you there—”

 

“Stop stalling, Baekhyun. Call him,” Kyungsoo says, sternly. “Besides, Junmyeon doesn’t wanna carry your ass anymore. It’s hard playing PUBG without Jongdae covering for your ass all the time.”

 

“Jongdae doesn’t—” he starts, but it’s no use. Kyungsoo had already hung up.

 

Baekhyun sighs. He’d stalled long enough.

 

He shuts his gaming laptop (courtesy of Park Chanyeol) and stares at his phone, lying face-down on the ground. He thinks about Jongdae, his pretty mouth and his sharp words, his soft smiles and his bright laughter. He thinks about warm, tender Jongdae, about his fearless nature, about how he _cares_ about everyone around him. He thinks about Jongdae, giving out warmers to haunted house workers during winter, cooking for the members, making everyone he looks at smile. Jongdae, who understands Baekhyun, who looks at him in a way that makes him think he’s worth something. He thinks about their fight, at how Jongdae _frowned_ , how he’d looked so upset with Baekhyun, how he _shouldn’t be allowed to feel like that_ , and he— Baekhyun thinks about what Kyungsoo said, what his mom said. _They think he’ll be with Jongdae forever_. 

 

Then, the thought hits him: _he wants to be with Jongdae forever_. No matter the consequences, despite their careers, _he wants to spend the rest of his life with Kim Jongdae_.

 

He takes deep breaths, before he caves in. After three hours of stalling, he picks up his phone, and dials Jongdae’s number.

 

-

 

Jongdae picks up after the second ring.

 

He grins at Baekhyun through the screen of his phone. “Guess who finally called.”

 

Baekhyun looks at him, at his face, at his beautiful smile, and he sighs in relief. _Maybe Jongdae could forgive him_ —

 

“I’m sorry,” he blurts out. “I’m so, so, so fucking sorry, Dae. I’m sorry, it wasn’t your fault. You’re right, I overreacted, and I’m so, so, sorry—”

 

“Wait. Whoa, whoa, whoa, back up, baby,” Jongdae cut him off. He looked confused. “You’re sorry? What for?”

 

“For the game— Wait, you called me baby?” Baekhyun gapes at him. Maybe he _didn’t_ lose his boyfriend after all.

 

“Uh, yeah? You’re my boyfriend, why wouldn’t I…” he trails off, realization dawning on his features. Baekhyun watches a smile grow on his face, before he bursts out laughing. “Oh, Baekhyun, what the fuck?”

 

Baekhyun blinks.

 

Through the pixels of his phone, he’s almost blinded by Jongdae’s laugh. “Wow, Baek, by how hard you were apologizing, I thought you ate Mongryong or something. Then I really wouldn’t be able to forgive you, I’m kinda attached to that corgi.”

 

“Wait, so you’re not mad?” Baekhyun asks, timid.

 

“Oh, trust me, Baek, I’m very mad. But I wouldn’t break up with you over a stupid game, come on!”

 

Baekhyun sighs in relief. “Fuck, I thought I lost you.”

 

Jongdae looks at him through the pixels of his screen. He blinks. “What? You thought we broke up?”

 

“Well, yeah, we haven’t talked in a week—”

 

“Baek, I ignored you because I wanted you to apologize, and you did. So we’re done fighting. It’s okay.”

 

“So, you’re not mad anymore?”

 

“I was, but I missed you too much,” Jongdae laughs. “So when you called, I couldn’t even act upset.”

 

Baekhyun lays on his bed sideways, one hand supporting the phone and another under his head, and Jongdae mirrors him. He looks good, but he always does. He was in a ratty, old shirt, and his hair stuck up in multiple directions, but he looked so _good_ , and Baekhyun swallows. He recognizes the posters in the background as the ones hung in Jongdae’s childhood bedroom in Siheung, and he seems so far from Baekhyun, who’s all the way in Bucheon.

 

“I missed you too, dumbass. I’m sorry, again.”

 

“Whatever, it’s fine. Everything’s forgiven, Baek,” Jongdae runs his hand through his hair, messing it up more.

 

“You look like shit, Dae,” he says, fond. It’s a lie, of course. Jongdae looks ridiculously gorgeous, and Baekhyun is so _gone_.

 

“Shut up, or I’ll take it back,” Jongdae pouts. “Kyungsoo called. He told me to forgive you, so really, you should thank him.”

 

“You just said you missed me!”

 

Jongdae laughs again, and Baekhyun thinks fifty years have been added to his lifespan. “I did, yeah. I can’t believe Kyungsoo had to convince you to apologize! You big baby.”

 

“First my mom, then Kyungsoo, then you. Everyone keeps calling me that!”

 

“Because you are one—”

 

“Okay, that’s creepy. That’s literally what Kyungsoo said.”

 

Jongdae shrugs. “There’s a Kyungsoo in all of us. How’s your break been?”

 

-

 

Baekhyun looks at his boyfriend, absolutely smitten. They’ve been calling for hours now, making up for a week of not talking. He listens to Jongdae talk about the nature park he and Jongdeuk discovered, despite Siheung being a city, and he listens to Jongdae talk about his mom. He bites his lip, feeling an ache. He hadn’t talked to Jongdae in a week, the longest they’ve gone without talking, and— Fuck, he’d missed Jongdae so, so much.

 

He thinks, again, of Kyungsoo’s words, of his mother’s words. _They think I’ll be with Jongdae forever_.

 

“I love you, Dae,” he confesses, cutting off Jongdae’s story about a cat he found in their backyard. “I love you, so much.”

 

Jongdae’s eyes widen. “I love you too, Baekhyun. What— where did this all come from?”

 

Baekhyun looks away. It isn’t the first time they said it, not when they’ve been together for so long, not when they’ve been in love for even longer, but Jongdae’s superpower is _knowing_ Baekhyun, which is why he knows. “I don’t know. Something my mom— something my mom and Kyungsoo said? Kinda, I don’t know, I’m not— I’m sorry, I’m not really making sense.”

 

Jongdae looks at him, patiently waiting. “No, go ahead. What’s wrong?”

 

“I dunno, they said… they said they think we’ll be together, like… forever.”

 

Jongdae waits. It’s quiet for a while, but when he speaks up, Baekhyun can hear the hurt in his voice. “You— you don’t want that?”

 

Baekhyun shakes his head immediately. “No, no! It’s just— I don’t know, Dae, I want it so much. I want to be with you so much, but shit— doesn’t it scare you? That— that you’re you, and I’m me, and who we are— who we are makes it _impossible_ to be like this—”

 

“Baek—”

 

“Listen, I know we haven’t talked about this before, but— I just, I want it all with you, Dae. I want forever with you.”

 

It’s true. Baekhyun _does_ want forever with him. Baekhyun wants to grow stupidly old with him, to adopt pets with him and to raise children with him, to marry him. He wants everything with Jongdae—he wants the big house and the white picket fence and the SUVs, he wants the cliché American Dream, and he isn’t even American. At the same time, he would throw that all away for a simple life with Jongdae, for a small house in the middle of nowhere, if that’s what it had to take.

 

Jongdae looks at him like he’s gonna cry, but he doesn’t. “Shit, Baek, really? I’m gonna have dinner with my family in an hour.”

 

Baekhyun laughs, bitterness fading away. It was so _Jongdae_ to try to lighten the mood. “I talk about our future and you—”

 

“I want it too, dumbass,” Jongdae cuts him off. “Wow, we fucking suck, huh?”

 

“What?”

 

“We don’t talk for a week then suddenly— all of a sudden, we’re talking about this. I should be next to you,” he says. “Forever, though? Commitment— that’s a lot, for us—”

 

“Yeah, fucking dumbasses living together? We’d burn our house down—”

 

“Or get evicted—”

 

“Or starve to death—?”

 

“Or die of disease—”

 

They burst out laughing. So much for a serious conversation.

 

“In all seriousness, though,” Jongdae starts. “I want forever too. I know you’re scared, but come on, Baek, you don’t really have to be. Everyone who _really_ matters to us— they all know, we’re out to them. And the fans— when it’s all over, we’ll still be together, okay? We can— I don’t know, let’s move to America, yeah? We can, maybe, settle down, _we can get married_. We’re idols, but there’s a way for us, there’s gotta be a way.”

 

Baekhyun doesn’t have to guess what Jongdae means by _when it’s all over_. He lets Jongdae continue. “Hey, I want to be with you, too, okay? I wanna hang out with you until we’re old as shit and we’re wrinkled because we gave up on skincare. We’ll be together ‘til you’re tired of my ass. Besides, who’s gonna take me if you won’t?”

 

Baekhyun snorts. “Literally anyone would date you. Jeez, Dae, you’re— you’re EXO’s Chen! Ballad prince, nation’s vocalist, high-note hitter extraordinaire. You’re the group’s sweetheart and one of the beagles, and—”

 

Jongdae laughs. “ _Literally anyone_ isn’t Byun Baekhyun, though.”

 

Baekhyun smiles, rolling his eyes. He couldn’t deny that it didn’t charm him, though— _fucking Jongdae_. “You’re right, we suck. We should be talking about this face-to-face.”

 

Jongdae smiles at him, cheeky as shit, and brings his phone closer to his face. “This close enough for you, babe?”

 

“I can see all of your pores, clean your fucking face,” Baekhyun says, sticking his tongue out. Again, a lie. Jongdae’s face is so clear that it’s ridiculous, considering his skincare routine is close to nonexistent.

 

“Shut up, as if you don’t have the oiliest face around.”

 

“You kiss this oily face,” Baekhyun points out.

 

“I hate you,” Jongdae says, sounding stupidly in love. “Let’s get an apartment together.”

 

“No,” Baekhyun says. Jongdae’s smile drops. _Shit, okay, that came out wrong._ “I mean, let’s just use my apartment in Seoul.”

 

Jongdae pouts. “You bully, you could’ve said it nicer.”

 

Baekhyun beams at him. “I’ll show you the apartment when we come home from the break.”

 

-

 

(“Why,” Baekhyun begins, “do you have this?”

 

Jongdae raises his arms. “Okay, listen, I’m sorry! I thought we could play a round and settle the scores, you know—” 

 

“We almost broke up because of this!” Baekhyun yells, waving the Monopoly board around.

 

“Put the weapon down, Baekhyun,” Jongdae says, backing away into the kitchen of their apartment. “And we did _not_ almost break up, you drama queen!”)

**Author's Note:**

>  **things to take into consideration:**  
>  \- jongdae and baekhyun get an apartment together  
> \- the fight was about monopoly !!! jongdae made baekhyun pay when he landed on dae’s property thrice jsdjsgd they all had a hotel each (somehow i forgot to add this detail to the fic eye)  
> \- junmyeon loves pubg as much as i love him !! this is canon  
> \- baekchen dont move into the apartment!!! they stay in the dorm when they have schedules, and they always visit their homes in siheung and bucheon!!! they stay in their apartment sometimes, though, when they have a short break and dont need to go home to their families :>  
> \- this was PURELY self-indulgent sjdshd i mean,,, baekhyun's mom laughing as much as baekhyun does? junmyeon being a gamer?? exo playing pubg with their matching laptops??? sky sub-unit (idk if anyone caught that)???? PURELY SELF-INDULGENT  
> \- also i havent played pubg IN MONTHS im so sorry if thats not how it works aksgjsg  
> \- ALSO the ending sucks A LOT because i rushed it oops ill probably edit it one day  
> \- if i tagbaited you bc i said exo-sky would be a thing here,,,, oops sorry MAYBE NEXT TIME  
> \- ALSO IDK WHY ITS ALMOST 3K WORDS ???? it was meant to be like 1.5k or smth idk  
> \- kyungoo might diss exo's songs but he's probably gonna sing girl x friend at baekchen's wedding  
> \- title taken from shawn mendes' fallin all in you
> 
>  
> 
> thank you for reading this!! | scream to me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/xiuderella_) about baekchen (or literally any other exo ship)


End file.
